


Tandem

by luoup (ravenic)



Series: Team the Best Team [Platonic VLD Week 2.0] [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Acro, Alternate Universe - Circus Studio, Circus Arts, Gen, Partner Acro, woo more of this silly au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-16 04:44:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12335727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenic/pseuds/luoup
Summary: Day 3 Prompt 1: TandemAcro practice at Voltron Circus Studio





	Tandem

**Author's Note:**

> this week's version of [that dumb circus thing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10157696) from last time
> 
> i was going to do a dance fic for this prompt, i really was. but i miss my acro partner so this turned into another circus fic, this time focusing specifically on acro. again, writing physical poses is really weird but i did it anyway. 
> 
> as per usual this whole thing is a bunch of self-indulgent nonsense that i wrote off the top of my head. if you liked the last circus fic you’ll probably enjoy this one, but that’s about all i can say for it.

_“Jesus Christ Keith!”_

Lance only escaped falling on his head because of Hunk’s stellar reflexes.  Halfway to the floor, his buddy grabbed him with one hand around his waist and carefully righted him, settling both feet firmly on the floor before letting go. 

A few feet away, Pidge burst out laughing where she was sitting comfortably in throne pose, legs wrapped around Shiro’s calves as his feet held her high in the air.  “Lance fell dooown,” they sing-songed, rocking from one side to the other and uncaring that Shiro had to keep readjusting their weight to keep them from doing the same.  Allura kept a careful eye on the pair, not overbearing but ready to catch her friend if they overbalanced. 

“You’re both such good acrobats,” Hunk grumbled, making sure that Lance wasn’t going to fall over and giving Keith a hand up, “how can you be so bad when you pair up?”

“It’s not my fault!” the two said in unison.  The ensuing glares were identical as well. 

“Just because _someone_ doesn’t know left from right doesn’t mean I’m a bad flier,” Lance said. 

“Well, just because _someone_ keeps saying left and right without saying _whose_ left or right it is doesn’t mean _I’m_ a bad base!” Keith snapped. 

“Calm down, both of you,” Shiro said.  He couldn’t get too involved, after all he had his own flier to pay attention to – Pidge was shifting to one side, taking advantage of the fact that Shiro was capable of basing thinker pose (it was the only one they consistently fell out of with Keith).  Besides, his brother and his teammate were grown human beings who would either get over it together or just stop partnering up. 

Not that they would ever do that.  No matter how many times one dropped the other, neither Lance nor Keith had ever once mentioned breaking that link.  It was part of what made the group nicknamed “Paladins” so interesting – they were a strongly bonded acro team and all flew or based most of the others. 

Hunk was right, both Keith and Lance were good acrobats.  They bickered almost incessantly, but once they actually bothered to communicate they made a great team.  Everyone had faults – Pidge tended to push their limits, Shiro forgot he had any, Hunk got nervous, Allura was a perfectionist.  It was part of who they were.  But it meant that Pidge discovered new poses and strategies constantly, Shiro would try anything, Hunk kept his partners safe, and Allura was amazing to watch.  They had all been working together for a long time, both in acro and other circus arts, and it showed.  The Paladins of Voltron Studio were good. 

“All right, Allura, your turn.” Allura didn’t have any time to respond before Pidge tilted and rolled to the side with a twist, going from what could easily be a fall into a half-cartwheel.  They high-fived Allura with one hand and Shiro with the other, then wandered off to watch the ongoing whisper-fight between Keith and Lance. 

“Fly or base?” Allura asked, looking down at Shiro still lying on the floor. 

He smiled.  “I’m pretty comfortable down here.  Wanna fly?”

Her answering grin was as bright as the sun. 

Allura was still involved with the group even though she was frequently away helping her father and learning how to lead the company, along with assisting her uncle in running the circus studio when she had free time.  But when she could, she joined in.  Circus was a passion of hers.  It was what would make her a good manager for the studio if Coran ever decided to leave, and made her a good assistant manager in the meantime (they all knew Coran would never leave, not this.  The man loved circus too much.  Not that any of them were complaining.  Voltron Studio was the best place they could ever be.).    

As Allura draped herself over Shiro’s feet, arching into a perfect reverse bird (although she would never quite be able to call it that anymore, Pidge’s new name of “umbrella” had stuck too well), she watched the other Paladins from her new upside-down position. 

The boys had finally grown bored with arguing.  The addition of Pidge allowed Lance to pair with Hunk while Keith and Pidge teamed up nearby, solving the issue of having Lance and Keith having to actually work together.  Considering their skills, it was kind of amazing how bad the two were when they team up.  If they actually tried they were great, but the other 75% of the time was a disaster, although at least an entertaining one. 

If it had been any other group in the studio, Allura would have required spotters for each pair.  Even the best acrobats should have spotters if there was any need, but she also trusted these people.  They were good enough to not make silly mistakes, and good enough to ask for help if they needed it. 

Case in point: using Shiro’s good arm with the other acting as a guide, Allura rolled over into bird.  From there, with some rearranging of feet on hips and shifting of hands, she sat up, allowing Shiro to cup his left hand under one foot and crossing the other as delicately as a noblelady, settling into chair to observe the rest of the studio. 

Hunk and Lance were messing around.  It looked like some kind of washing machine, the shifting of hands and feet and hips and shoulders allowing Lance to roll over and over and over, twisting from face-down to face-up and over again.  Washing machines were difficult simply because they were so complex with so many contact points and weight shifts, but Hunk and Lance had always been able to read each other’s bodies with ease, and it especially showed when they did sequences like this. 

Keith and Pidge had opted to not go with L-form basing this time.  It seemed they were practicing flagpole – Pidge had one foot braced on Keith’s thigh and the other hooked around his neck, leaning out at an impossible angle, arms stretched out like a star.  Despite its relative simplicity, the pose never failed to look impressive. 

The shift from chair to throne pose was easy, and Allura took a moment to enjoy the height and stability before stretching up and backwards, tipping gracefully into a waterfall exit.  Shiro based it perfectly, feet steady and solid underneath her as her weight poured back into her hands and her legs unwrapped from his calves.  She held the balanced backbend for a heartbeat, hands on the floor while her lower body remained entangled with Shiro’s legs, then she pushed off, first one leg and then the other into a kickover, landing neatly on her feet and straightening to a stand.  Shiro gratefully took her hand when she offered, and the girl pulled him off the floor and to his feet with hardly a strain.  

Unfortunately, Allura couldn’t spend all day playing, so she wandered off to sit against the wall with a water bottle and laptop, answering emails while keeping an eye on her Paladins.  She could watch the antics and get some work done, and maybe do some spotting in between all the emails. 

The spotting idea turned out to be a good one, because ten minutes in, Lance wanted them to try “Voltron” again. 

VOLTRON was a bizarre sort of in-joke within the group.  Allura still didn’t know why her uncle had named the studio what he had, but the Paladins had seized upon it and between Lance and Hunk had come up with a ridiculous acro pose to “symbolize” the studio and the team. 

It went like this.  Shiro was sort of the de facto leader, so he was the “head.”  Meaning also the body (it didn’t hurt that he was probably the strongest of them all).  Keith had a tendency to punch people so he got to be an arm, and Pidge was very… climb-y, so they were the other.  Lance and Hunk were good bases and spotters, and also general life-helping supports as well, so they were both legs.  Together they formed… VOLTRON.  Whatever that was.  Allura was pretty sure she would never completely understand this weird little group, but at least they were amusing to watch.  She had a suspicion Lance had invented the whole thing just to get them to do five-person poses.

Behold the amazing VOLTRON: Lance and Hunk both on hands and knees, Shiro somehow managing to balance with one foot on each back despite the significant height difference.  Pidge was literally dangling from his left bicep, curled up like a fruit.  Keith, on the side of Shiro’s weaker arm, held on to his shoulder and braced one foot against his waist.  Tiny Pidge was on the same side as Hunk, and Keith and Lance, almost the same size, were on the other.  Shiro was red-faced from the effort of holding up the “arms,” but they were all laughing, at least for the five seconds they managed to hold the pose before Shiro’s foot slipped on Lance’s back and the whole pile of them came crashing down. 

Allura twitched, an automatic spotter-helper reaction to a fall in the studio, but it was clear that nobody was hurt. 

“That was totally your fault,” Lance was telling Keith, sounding quite scolding for someone who had thought shifting his weight while supporting half of the universe’s weirdest human pyramid was a good idea. 

“Was not,” Keith snapped back, although they were interrupted by Pidge’s non-sequitur of, “I want to have a shield!”

“What do you mean, you want a shield?” Hunk asked, rubbing one shoulder.  “You trying to be Captain America?”

“No,” Pidge rolled their eyes, tugging Shiro back to his feet despite their size difference and offering a hand to Keith.  “If Keith gets to be the Sword, I want to be the Shield.”

“Not this again,” Keith grumbled, “please don’t encourage–”

“Totally!” Lance exclaimed.  “That’s a great idea, Pidge.  Hunk and I can have weapons too, like–”

“I thought you were a foot?” Shiro said, confused.  “Does the robot have gun feet or something?”

“Maaaybe,” Lance hummed, rolling backwards into standing.  “This will require some research.”

“Research,” Hunk snorted.  “You just want to hang out with Nyma and beg her to draw your nerdy comic again.”

“Hey!  One, she’s a good artist, and B, she’s _so_ into me.”

“That’s definitely it,” Pidge snickered.  “You’re such a dork.  We are absolutely the only acro team in the universe that has its own comic.”

“And it can’t even be a good comic,” Keith said.  “We turn into a _robot?_   What does that even _mean?_   What does acro have to do with giant robots?”

“Giant _space_ robots,” Lance corrected.  Pidge was climbing up his back like he was their personal jungle gym. 

From their perch on Lance’s shoulder, Pidge said, “You must have been soooo out of it to think of that one.”

“He was,” Hunk confirmed. 

Shiro shook his head at them all.  “Okay, enough of Voltron for now.  Let’s work on trio poses.  We’ll rotate through all the sets we have, and the two who aren’t in the balance can spot.”

Allura returned to her emails, keeping half an eye on the Paladins.  They were definitely the weirdest acro team in the universe, but they were hers, and she was finding that a little weirdness wasn’t really a bad thing at all.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> form voltron! i don't even know why i wrote that part, it was complete impulse (as was this whole thing really). but this whole thing is ridiculous so i can do what i want.


End file.
